World leaders yesterday were joining Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Switzerland for a summit on peace in his country, but with Russia staying away it is seen as the first step in a long process.
The Swiss hosts have sought to temper expectations at the two-day gathering, with an agenda laying the groundwork for a path to peace — with future summits envisioned, eventually involving Moscow.
However, Zelenskiy has expressed high hopes for the outcome.
Photo: AFP
“We will see history being made here at the summit,” he said on social media platform Telegram, as he greeted presidents and prime ministers arriving at the luxury Burgenstock resort high above Lake Lucerne.
“Together, we are making the first step toward just peace based on the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law,” he wrote on X.
In a combative speech on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the conference and demanded that Kyiv effectively surrender before any actual peace negotiations.
Zelenskiy branded Putin’s demands a territorial “ultimatum” reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler, while NATO and the US also rejected the conditions.
The conference, convening 100 countries and global institutions, comes at a perilous moment for exhausted Ukrainians and outgunned soldiers, more than two years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
More than 50 heads of state and government are among the attendees, including all of the G7 leaders who have been meeting in Italy — with one notable exception.
US President Joe Biden instead sent US Vice President Kamala Harris, who announced more than US$1.5 billion in new aid for Ukraine, mainly for its energy sector and in humanitarian assistance as she arrived in a US Army helicopter.
Near Ukraine’s embattled eastern front, hopes for any major breakthrough are nearly nil.
“I’d like to hope that it will bring some changes in the future, but, as experience shows, nothing comes of it,” said Maksym, a tank commander in the Donetsk region.
In Kyiv, Victoria, a 36-year-old energy industry worker, said she was “exhausted” by the war and wanted to believe the summit would help end it.
“I’m a realist in life, so I don’t have high hopes,” she said.
Experts have also warned against unrealistic expectations from the gathering.
“Meaningful negotiations that could truly end the devastating war in Ukraine remain out of reach, as both Kyiv and Moscow stick to theories of victory that amount to outlasting the other,” the International Crisis Group think tank said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS